Griggs Mansion – The Most Haunted House in St. Paul

Article

By Kristen Winiarski

If you’re going to be in the St. Paul, Minnesota region, there are plenty of haunted places to check out. One of the coolest ones is the Griggs Mansion. With all of those rooms, who knows what you might find? A former resident, perhaps? Read on for some more information about this house built in the 1800s.

Griggs History

After serving and quickly moving through the ranks in the Civil War, Chauncey Griggs amassed his fortune as a merchant, working in wholesale groceries, coal, lumber, and banking. He and his wife decided to use this and build a house on Summit Avenue. They built their mansion next to Griggs’ business partner and used the same architect for design.

This Victorian mansion was built in 1883 and cost $35,000 at the time, which would be almost $1.1 million today. They also built a carriage house behind the mansion for $12,000, or just over $420,000 today. Given how extensive the property was (the mansion itself was 24 rooms), this is no surprise that it costs so much. It is a surprise, however, that the Griggs family only lived there for about four years before moving to Tacoma.

Happenings After The Family Moved

In the same year that Griggs died, his original home suffered from a fire in 1910. This fire was so extensive that the entire building was almost gutted. It was restored and decorated by a New York interior decorating company before being donated to the St. Paul Arts and Science Center by Roger B. Shepard. Although the home is now a private residence, you can still look at it from the outside.

The Ghosts of Griggs Mansion

At the beginning of the 20th century, a maid hanged herself on the top floor’s landing after a love affair gone wrong. She has been seen as a white mist and caused a sense of doom when people approach the landing where she committed suicide.

When the home was a School of Art in the 1950s, an instructor named Delmar Kolb lived in the basement. He witnessed a thin figure with a top hat standing at the foot of his bed, but then faded away.

Carl Weschcke, a book publisher, who specialized in the paranormal, bought the house in 1964 and converted it back into a private home. After being in the home for three years, he said that he saw a surprised man wearing a dark suit standing in the doorway of his library. They stared at each other for about 30 seconds before fading away. This man is believed to be a former caretaker named Charles Wade, who spent many hours in the library while an employee.

In 1969, Weschcke invited Pioneer Press reporters and a photographer to spend the night, but they left before morning when they heard footsteps approaching their room.If you’re interested in the paranormal legends of St. Paul, check out our St. Paul Ghost Walk.

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